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Rating: 
Summary: The Rapture Leaves the Bible behind
Review: A valiant effort accompanied this deeply flawed work on "the rapture." What the book fails to delineate well are the good reasons why belief in the rapture was not accepted by most theologians in the history of Christianity. Most of what is discussed today about the rapture relies on poor exegesis rightly rejected by most Christian theologians. For this reader, the decisive argument against the rapture is by David Currie, who believes in the Second Coming and is no liberal exegete. Read his, Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind. Currie's work is superior and is more in line with historical Christianity than this aberration mostly promoted in the United States.
Rating:
Summary: The Rapture Leaves the Bible behind
Review: A valiant effort accompanied this deeply flawed work on "the rapture." What the book fails to delineate well are the good reasons why belief in the rapture was not accepted by most theologians in the history of Christianity. Most of what is discussed today about the rapture relies on poor exegesis rightly rejected by most Christian theologians. For this reader, the decisive argument against the rapture is by David Currie, who believes in the Second Coming and is no liberal exegete. Read his, Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind. Currie's work is superior and is more in line with historical Christianity than this aberration mostly promoted in the United States.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Example of Assumption
Review: I had trouble rating this book because John Walvoord is universally recognized as one the great biblical teachers of our time -- a godly man who is to be greatly respected. For this, and his great passion for the coming of Christ -- the glorious hope of all believers -- I have the utmost respect for him. However, when it comes to the discussion of end-times subjects, this work like his other end-times works shows how even godly men can rely more on assumption, unfounded leaps of logic, and inference than on direct teachings of scripture. My pages of The Rapture Question are scrawled in the margins with phrases like, "assumption...," "why? substantiate?" and "yes, but..." Many of Walvoord's arguments sound good until you look closely at the context, compare his interpretations to other scriptural passages, or look critically at the arguments he's making. His books are a great example of how a position can be argued on a passage-by-passage basis, but when you stand back and look at all of the passages together, a clear pattern emerges: the author has come to his conclusions only by reinterpreting and changing the clear, straightforward message of the text. I've done extensive reading on the pretrib position and I actually find Walvoord's arguments to be among the weakest. They rely too heavily on assumption, sweeping generalizations that do not hold up under scrutiny, and the need to read between the lines. Like other pretrib teachers, Walvoord never tackles the larger picture, which is that the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus returns once, not twice; that at His one and only return, He comes in bodily form (not spiritual form -- Acts 1:9); that the expectancy taught in scripture is not the same as an "any moment, nothing must happen first" coming; that God's wrath does not start at the beginning of the 70th Week, or even during the Great Tribulation, but later, during the Day of the Lord; and that God does put His people through intense periods of persecution and testing. Not to mention the chronological sequence of the seals, trumpets, and bowls described in Revelation, which places the return of Christ in Matt. 24:30-31 at the sixth seal, before the end of the 70th Week, not at Armageddon as Walvoord teaches. H. L. Nigro, author of Before God's Wrath: The Bible's Answer to the Timing of the Rapture
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Source for the Pretribulation Rapture
Review: This book is an excellent source for defending the Pretribulation Rapture. My only problem is that I purchased a used copy of the book and it was an older edition so it didn't have the expanded details like the latest edition. If you purchase this book, buy it new so you have the latest and greatest. I may well do that since I find the edition I have to be a good source. I can only imagine the latest edition is even better!
Rating:
Summary: A Pre-Tribulationist Classic
Review: This book is the most extensive pre-trib treatment available regarding the issues surrounding the timing of the rapture of the church as described in I Thess. 4. Walvoord is thorough, charitable, and persuasive. This expanded edition includes direct responses to the novel dispensational post-trib position of Robert Gundry. The author does not dodge Gundry's issues, but answers them in point-by-point fashion (while raising some formidable issues of his own against Gundry's assertions). If you've read Gundry, and find yourself swayed by his arguments in favor of a post-trib rapture, then you owe it to yourself to read this book before making any decision on the matter. Hear what BOTH sides have to say. You may be quite surprised at the veracity of pre-tribulationism in the able hand of Walvoord. I highly recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Pre-Tribulationist Classic
Review: This book is the most extensive pre-trib treatment available regarding the issues surrounding the timing of the rapture of the church as described in I Thess. 4. Walvoord is thorough, charitable, and persuasive. This expanded edition includes direct responses to the novel dispensational post-trib position of Robert Gundry. The author does not dodge Gundry's issues, but answers them in point-by-point fashion (while raising some formidable issues of his own against Gundry's assertions). If you've read Gundry, and find yourself swayed by his arguments in favor of a post-trib rapture, then you owe it to yourself to read this book before making any decision on the matter. Hear what BOTH sides have to say. You may be quite surprised at the veracity of pre-tribulationism in the able hand of Walvoord. I highly recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: A biased, but interesting book about the rapture.
Review: Walvoord does a good job of defending the pretribulation rapture position. But he is forced to admit that the doctrine of the pretribulation rapture is more of an inference based on dispensational ecclesiology than on exegetical considerations. Having said that, Walvoord does try mightily to defend the exegetical basis of pretribulationism. He seems to gear much of his argument against Robert Gundry's well written 1973 posttribulational book, "The Church and the Tribulation," and this dates Walvoord's book a little. But it's still a good read. He concludes by presenting 50 arguments for pretribulationism, which he himself admits is formidable only because of the sheer number of arguments and not due to any one powerful argument. At any rate, he's done the best he could with an exegetically weak doctrine. I personally would place the coming of Christ for his church right after the opening of the sixth seal of Revelation (Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 6:12-17). But if you are researching the rapture positions and are still trying to make up your mind, I'd pick this book up over most other pretribulational books.
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